Antibiotics on Farms may Toughen Bacteria

The World Health Organization still isn’t sure where the rare strain of E. coli that’s spreading across Europe came from, but some believe it may have been spurred by the overmedication of cattle. And there are lots of cattle in Kentucky—more than any other state east of the Mississippi. At a farm in Oldham County, cows are lying in the shade with their calves to escape the midday sun. Foxhollow Farm has 250 cattle which are fed grass, not grain, which cows can’t properly digest and is often laced with antibiotics. All of the meat Foxhollow sells is antibiotic-free.

Maggie Keith is a fourth generation owner.

“Our first goal was to heal the land and by doing that we wanted to become a biodynamic farm,” she said. “So if that’s our goal, antibiotics just aren’t even in the question or the mission.”

Margaret Mellon is the director of the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists

“It’s important to realize that antibiotic use in animals is something like 80 percent of the total antibiotic use in the United States,” Mellon said.

And this rampant antibiotic use in animals we eat can cause problems. A drug-resistant E. coli bacteria is making people sick in Europe, and while the cause of the outbreak isn’t known, Mellon says the situation illustrates why people in the United States should be concerned about animal medication.

“This kind of a bacteria could have arisen in an animal setting and the way we use antibiotics in animals encourages the emergence of this kind of a pathogen if not this particular one,” she said.

Of course, just like humans, sometimes cows really need antibiotics too. A spokeswoman for the Kentucky Beef Council says their members only administer antibiotics to cows when the animals are sick. Maggie Keith of Foxhollow Farm says once one of their cows is given antibiotics, they don’t sell the meat under the farm’s label, so it’s a last resort. They will medicate a cow to save its life, but first they try homeopathic remedies.

“Because your body does have the defenses to fight against diseases,” Keith said. “We need to build up the immune system and build up the strength of our animals so that they can handle those foreign diseases. If they get a bout of diarrhea, pull them aside, give them a lot of water, give them some vitamins and see if that will work before you go ahead and put a bunch of antibiotics in them.”

A year ago, the Food and Drug Administration urged farmers to reduce the amount of antibiotics fed to livestock. They warned using liberal antibiotic use was helping to create drug-resistant bacteria and endangering humans.